Irish Bank Debt Deal Could Help Credit Rating – Moody’s

By

Eamon Quinn

Oct 12, 2012 3:46 am EST

Moody’s Investors Services would consider removing the threat of a downgrade to Ireland’s credit rating if the euro zone agreed to ease the debt burden the government incurred while rescuing its stricken banks, one of its senior analysts said Thursday.

But in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Dietmar Hornung, a senior credit officer at Moody’s, said the country’s weak economic outlook remains of major concern.

The Irish government hopes that the euro zone will refinance on easier terms a large part of the €64 billion costs ($82.4 billion) the country borrowed over the past four years to save its banking system from collapse.

Government ministers say a deal would help Ireland’s efforts to finance itself entirely in the bond markets from 2014, after the last of its bailout loans are disbursed by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in late 2013.